Władysław Szpilman was a Polish Jewish pianist, classical composer and Holocaust survivor. Szpilman is widely known as the central figure in the Roman Polanski film The Pianist, which was based on his autobiographical account of how he survived the German occupation of Warsaw. In the film, Szpilman is portrayed by American actor Adrien Brody.
Eugeniusz Bodo was a film director, producer, and one of the most popular Polish actors and comedians of the interwar period. He starred in some of the most popular Polish film productions of the 1930s, including His Excellency, The Shop Assistant, Czy Lucyna to dziewczyna?, and Pieśniarz Warszawy.
Adolf Dymsza was a Polish comedy actor of both the pre-World War II and post-war eras. He starred in both theatre and film productions, mainly before World War II. He and Kazimierz Krukowski performed as the duo Lopek and Florek in kleynkunst productions at Qui Pro Quo and other noted Warsaw cabarets. Another pseudonym was "Dodek." He was arguably the most popular Polish comic actor of the 1930s, Andrzej Wajda remarked once, that for him Dymsza and Bodo were symbols of pre-war Polish cinema in general. To this day he is considered the king of Polish film comedy.
Mieczysław Fogg was a Polish singer and artist. His popularity started well before World War II and continued well into the 1980s. He had a characteristic way of staying very serious yet slightly emotional on stage when singing. Fogg had a lyric baritone voice and can be compared to French Tino Rossi in style.
Jan Wiktor Kiepura was a Polish opera singer and actor. He enjoyed a successful international career and performed at leading concert halls around the world including La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Opéra-Comique, La Fenice and Teatro Colón. He was the recipient of numerous national and international distinctions and honours including Poland's Order of Polonia Restituta, France's Legion of Honour and Sweden's Order of the Polar Star.
Stanisław Moniuszko was a Polish composer, conductor, organist and pedagogue. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, including The Haunted Manor and Halka, and his music is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He is generally referred to as "the father of Polish national opera". Since the 1990s Stanisław Moniuszko has been recognized in Belarus as an important figure to Belarusian culture as well.
Jerzy Petersburski was a Jewish Polish pianist and composer of popular music, renowned mostly for his Tangos, some of which were milestones in popularization of the musical genre in Poland and are still widely known today, more than half a century after their creation.
Wiera Gran, real name Dwojra Grynberg was a Polish singer and actress of Jewish ancestry.
Karol Juliusz "Igo" Sym was a Polish actor and collaborator with Nazi Germany. He was killed in Warsaw by members of the Polish resistance movement.
Marta Mirska,, was a Polish singer active from 1940 to the mid-1960s. Her distinctive alto voice brought her to popular attention immediately before World War II. Her popularity peaked in the 1950s, with recordings on the Poznań-based Mewa and then the Polskie Nagrania labels. Her best-known song was Pierwszy siwy włos, a nostalgic tango written by Kazimierz Winkler and Henryk Hubertus Jabłoński originally for singer Mieczysław Fogg.
Mykola Petrovych Bakay was a Ukrainian singer, composer, poet, author and Soviet dissident.
Zygmunt Białostocki was a Polish Jewish musician and composer. He composed many popular Polish pre-war songs, and worked as conductor and a première pianist in Warsaw between the World Wars.
Fanny Gordon, (Polish:Faina Markowna Kwiatkowska Russian: Фаина Марковна Квятковская - was Polish-Soviet composer. She was the only female laykhte-muzik composer in Poland.
Emanuel Schlechter was born and died in Lwów. He was a Polish-Jewish artist, lyricist, screenwriter, librettist, writer, satirist, translator, composer and director.
Tadeusz Faliszewski, was a Polish singer, cabaret actor, director of revues and operettas.
Andrzej Bogucki was a Polish television, stage and film actor, as well as operetta singer and songwriter, sometimes referred to as "The Polish Chevalier".
Olimpia Obarska-Forkasiewicz, better known by her stage name Ola Obarska, was a Polish actress, operetta singer, librettist, theatre director, journalist and songwriter.
Jakub Kagan was a popular Polish-Jewish composer, pianist, jazz musician and arranger. In the early 1920s, he formed the Kagan's Jazz Band in Warsaw, performing in operettas, cabarets, and hotels. Since 1922 Kagan was a feature artist at the Kabaret Mirage and at the Teatr Nowości. In 1926 he signed a contract with the luxury Hotel Bristol in Warsaw. His band performed world-renowned standards as well as his own compositions widely popular across the country. He died in Warsaw during the Holocaust in occupied Poland.
Ryszard Pietruski was a Polish theatre and film actor.
"Bal u starego Joska" is a waltz ballad by the Polish-Russian composer, Fanny Gordon, and lyricists, Julian Krzewiński and Leopold Brodziński. It is a popular Polish song in the piosenka apaszowska or apache songs genre which arose in the Polish underworld of the 1930s. The song was written around 1934 for one of Warsaw's literary cabaret theatres. The theatres were frequented by the Polish intelligentsia.
